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How social media confuses fact and fiction in the news
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Social media sites like Facebook are trying to make it easier to get to the news users care about. But they're actually making it harder. - photo by Chandra Johnson
Chandra Johnson
Deseret News
Published: Sep 25, 2016, 9:59 AM
Last year, Facebook rolled out new features designed to make it easier for its users to keep up with the news through promoting trending content and offering some publications the chance to publish directly to Facebook.

Since then, things have gotten complicated for the social media site. First, Gizmodo reported in May that just a handful of editors managed Facebook's trending items and were pressured to promote certain stories over others especially to suppress news items and websites of interest to political conservatives.

Then, last month, Quartz reported Facebook was trying to correct this bias by firing its editors and letting an unmanned algorithm curate its trending feed. In its efforts to counteract its own misleading principles, Facebook inadvertently opened the floodgates to erroneous information posing as hard news stories first there was a completely fake story about Fox News firing top anchor Megyn Kelly.

More recently, the site just trended a story alleging bombs were planted in the Twin Towers before 9/11, promoting unfounded and (for the victims' families) hurtful theories that the U.S. government somehow played a role in the terrorist attacks.

Paired with the recent Pew Research Center finding that nearly half of Americans get their political and government news from Facebook and 38 percent cite the internet as a primary source of news, the fact that false news from unvetted sites is promoted is troublesome.

Yet as Brian Feldman wrote for New York Magazine, Facebook has now painted itself into a corner where it cannot discount the validity of any website claiming to be reporting. That puts a lot more responsibility on news consumers than ever.

"To exclude openly mendacious sites like Breitbart for being misleading or false opens the company up to accusations of bias. The responsibility of flagging false articles now falls on users," Feldman wrote.

But Feldman also argued that these issues are related and it's no coincidence that the two false stories promoted were both subjects typically important to far-right conservatives. An algorithm can't be completely blamed for how close political opinion can resemble news online, he posited.

"Facebooks problem isnt that it suppresses 'conservative news' or allows 'fake news,'" Feldman argued. "Its that those two categories are increasingly indistinguishable."
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
Herb Scribner
Deseret News
Published: Aug 13, 2018, 1:39 PM
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.